About 30 pages in it hit me that reading his personal writings is not only subjectively wrong but goes against the personal beliefs of Aurelius laid out in the very writings.

The interesting paradox is that it is his writings on ethics that made it feel so wrong to crack open his private writings. However, this obviously makes me (and others) want to read more.

I started asking questions to Google for answers and found that there is hardly any discussion about this online.

We read journals to become more grateful and humbled, to understand the challenges of human life, but if the author never wanted it published, is it right to break their privacy and trust for our own gain?

This happened to Anne Frank. Anne Frank’s family explicitly told publishers to respect her and not publish it.

They published it anyway.

Is this wrong? Should we be funneling our money to publishers who disrespected the final will of the dying author who we respect so much?